I agree that it was a surprise attack to those at Pearl Harbour and the rest of the USA. However, I believe that America would have known about the Japanese attack in advance if their system of sorting intelligence information hadn't been so poor which led to the crucial pieces of intelligence being discarded. Although the attack on Pearl Harbour was a terrible tragedy, politically it worked in Franklin D. Roosevelt's favour in that it propelled Germany to declare war on the USA. A lot of conspiracy theories have suggested that FDR knew in advance that the Japanese attack was about to happen and did nothing so that the USA would be drawn in to the conflict taking place in Europe, I personally do not think that this was the case.
Nemo
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"I'm afraid there is no disguising the fact that King's obsession with the Pacific and the Battle of Washington cost us dear in the Battle of the Atlantic".
Sir John Slessor GCB, DSO, MC, DL
AOC-in-C Coastal Command RAF
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